Contrary to what Amabile Galea asserted, I, for one, do not in any way feel in the least pharisaical when I recite the prayer which Our Lady dictated to the three children of Fatima. When I implore the Lord to “forgive us our sins, protect us from hellfire and lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of Your mercy”, I very much have myself in mind together with everyone else.

The words “those most in need of your mercy” evoke in my mind souls who persist till the very end in their hatred and antagonism to God, rejecting His infinite mercy and forgiveness even while on the very threshold of eternity.

Without in any way ignoring my own need for mercy and divine help in my daily struggle against sin, I would find it very logical for Our Lady to refer to such hardened sinners, who are in imminent peril of eternal damnation as “most in need of God’s mercy”. Is this being pharisaical?

Indeed, I personally not only recite this prayer devoutly and earnestly in between the Rosary mysteries, as Our Lady has urged us in Fatima, but I also do so at odd times during the day when I think of our eternal destiny.

(The author passed away on Sunday.)